Best man starts bets on how long it will take newlyweds to divorce in wedding speech

omg
15/03/2019

Making a speech at your best friend's wedding is pretty special, and no doubt when you're selected as a best man or maid of honour, the bride or groom expect a bit of banter amongst the heartfelt speech.

But one groom got a bit more than he bargined for when his best man took bets on how long everyone thinks it will take for his newlywed friends to get a divorce!

Writing anomolyously on Reddit, the poster explained himself saying: "I got the idea to start up a bet and collect a pool from other people attending the wedding. The basic idea is that participants guess a year in which the couple will divorce and put in a certain amount of money (minimum bet $50), and IF they end up divorcing during that year whoever guessed that year wins the whole pot.

So for example, if 2 people guesses the year 2025, if the couple actually divorces in 2025, those 2 people would split the whole pot. (We raised a little over 3 grand total, so like $1500 each in this example.)

BUT, if the couple is still married after the latest bet in the pool (somebody put 2040) then the couple gets the entire pot."

Having collected the money off all the participants, he then decided to announce the ‘well-meaning’ idea during his Best Man speech at the reception.

“When I was explaining the bet during my best man speech that was how I was going to end, kind of with a charming/corny line, ‘But we all know none of us are going to be winning the bet, because you two will be together forever, so you can look forward to cashing in!’" the post explained.

“Before I could even get to that part the bride started crying and the parents and bridesmaids and all that were almost yelling at me, and the groom (my best friend of decades) was furious.”

It turns out this Best Man had the worst idea. The speech ended in tears and yelling, and the man’s friend and his wife refusing to forgive or speak to him for ruining their special day.

Commenters on the post largely agreed that the man had gone too far, with one poster saying, “It doesn’t tell the couple you want them to have a happy ending. You’re basically shoving it in their faces that there are dozens of people who believe they won’t last. That’s not how celebrating a wedding works.”